Aloha! New to the site.

Hello and welcome!
You're actually the 1st Hawaiian cavy owner I have met on here. Do you have any pet stores available to you? If so, I recommend giving them a visit and reading the ingredients label on every cavy pellet food bag. Since you are very limited to your resources, I would think as long as the pellet food has timothy as the 1st ingredient then that is good enough.
As far as coroplast and grids, I'm not sure where you'd be able to find them. I am not sure if there is a Bed Bath and Beyond in Hawaii, I am certain a lot of the sign shops in your area maybe small and locally owned. An ex boyfriend of mine worked in a locally owned sign shop and they cared decent sizes of corrugated plastic. I am sure if that relationship worked out his boss wouldn't mind giving me a sheet. His boss was like my grampa, too bad we aren't in contact anymore. He lives an hour n a half away from me.

Welcome! We would love to see pictures of your new friend! You can also look at alternative materials to build a C&C, such as instead of Coroplast you can use a water proof shower curtain or table cloth. Maybe some wire shelving pieces instead of grids (Though you'd have to measure them to make sure you make a big enough cage)

Thanks for your response. It's really exciting to see such a large community of guinea pig owners totally dedicated and serious about their piggies. I've been going through various guinea pig sites and absorbing anything and everything there is to know about these little guys. (I've especially liked Guinea Lynx & GuineaPigCages). We do have a few pet stores on Maui and I initially bought pellets but read that I should provide fresh vegetables instead. (Btw, please correct me if I'm wrong.) So lately, I would just buy veggies from my local grocery store based off of some nutrition chart (from Lynx?). And as for timothy, I've just given Prosciutto handfuls of the hay everyday.

Unfortunately, we don't have a Bed, Bath & Beyond or a Target. Just a Walmart & a K-Mart. No luck finding even the grids. So, what kind of plastic (specific names, maybe) that I could use instead of coroplast when asking sign shops?

Most people feed both veggies and pellets, however if good quality pellets can't be found it's ok to not feed them since they are the smallest part of the diet at about 5% (veggies being next at 10% then hay at 75%) Make sure you are feeding unlimited hay to him.

If you have a hardware store I'd try that for wire shelving, you can join shelves together with cable ties to make them longer if necessary. And you could use a vinyl off cut from a flooring shop as the base if needed. That should get you started anyway

@PB_Cavy, you can order the grids to be delivered to your Walmart store and shipping is free. I assume that would also apply in Hawaii, but you should definitely check first. I believe the brand they carry is called Stor-Mor. If you search the website for storage cubes, you should find them.

Make sure your pig has hay at all times -- a few handfuls a day may not be enough.

welcome! i'd love to see a pic....that's a great name. this coming from someone with pigs named flora, fenella, and philomena. sorry the no caps...i'm eating breakfast...

PB_Cavy said:

Thanks for your response. It's really exciting to see such a large community of guinea pig owners totally dedicated and serious about their piggies. I've been going through various guinea pig sites and absorbing anything and everything there is to know about these little guys. (I've especially liked Guinea Lynx & GuineaPigCages). We do have a few pet stores on Maui and I initially bought pellets but read that I should provide fresh vegetables instead. (Btw, please correct me if I'm wrong.) So lately, I would just buy veggies from my local grocery store based off of some nutrition chart (from Lynx?). And as for timothy, I've just given Prosciutto handfuls of the hay everyday.

Unfortunately, we don't have a Bed, Bath & Beyond or a Target. Just a Walmart & a K-Mart. No luck finding even the grids. So, what kind of plastic (specific names, maybe) that I could use instead of coroplast when asking sign shops?

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Aloha! Some people also use a shower curtains instead of coroplast as a bottom. As Bpatters suggested see if you can get the cubes shipped to your local Walmart for free. In the photos section there is a Alternative cage section that may help give you ideas.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!!!!!!!

Hi there. This is the link for the cubes that you can get delivered for free. They also have them in black. Whitmor White Wire Storage Cubes, Four Cubes Interlocked - Walmart.com I hope this helps. What I did for a long time was line the bottom with towels, cover the towel with fleece so the piggies didn't get sore feet from the grids. Then along the bottom of the cage (outside the grids) I lined it with a shower curtain. It is more difficult to clean than coroplast, but it took me weeks to get the coroplast here.

There is a company that ships small sheets of coroplast that you could piece together with packing tape to make a base for cage. They do ship to Hawaii. This is the link to their website. Corrugated Plastic Panels - BLICK art materials It's not called coroplast though, they call it corrugated plastic panels. I have ordered from them personally, so I know that what they sell is what you're looking for. The company did warn that any shipment over 40 pounds would have to be quoted for a shipping price, but they said that they would get back to you within a couple of business days on the price for that, but there is now way it should weigh that much for a cage for you.

I wish you the best of luck with your cage and I'm glad to meet someone new that is willing to go to great lengths to build a new cage.

Hola, le llamo Laura, tengo dos perros y un gato, como te llamo? Que tal? - Spanish! Only bit of I know, mind!

It means: Hello, my name is Laura, I have two dogs and one kitten, what's your name? How are you?

Welcome to the forum! You will exit this site this site, knowing more about guinea pigs than when you came on and you shall be checking again on it tomorrow!

WOW you guys are so awesome!

Thanks so much for all of the helpful feedback and the warm welcomes. I'll see what I can do about finding alternative materials. I'll be sure to post up my work in progress and I hope it will turn out a big success. I'm so excited. Thanks again, you guys! :tearsofjo

Welcome to the forum! K-mart sells 23 grids. I buy all my grids from here! Heres the link Stor Floor Standing 6-Cube Storage Unit - Tools - Garage Organization & Shelving - Storage Hooks
As others have said walmart also sells them, but you do get less in a box. For sign shops I would ask for corrugated plastic. Im not sure if you may have a home depot or lowes near you? If so, they sell small sheets and a sheet that is 36x72. I got my coro there I bought a few sheets that size and had enough to make 2x5 1/2 with 1 x2 loft and a ramp! You can also use waterproof shower curtains and vinyl tablecloths as other have said Would love to see some pigtures of your piggy!